Slogans and Catch-phrases

In India, there used to be some catch-phrases that we would see regularly from the sixties onwards - I can't help it, I was born in the sixties.

'Garibi hatao' was one such, plastered all over the media. What happened to that we don't know, but the trend these days seems to be Amiri hatao, or 'inclusion'.

Our college in Hyderabad used to have student bodies which would scribble their slogans on walls. "Down with zionist forces" used to be one of them. I didn't understand then who they were, and what they had to do with us. Still don't, in fact.

'Brain drain' was another favourite of the intelligentsia, who seem to coin new phrases when they have nothing better to do. Whatever little brains we billion people had, were apparently being drained through immigration to the West. But what prevented the half-a billion or more who stayed back from using their brains is what never could penetrate my (thick) skull. Now, we seem to have an abundance of brains, but no drains, if the rainwater stagnating on every street is an indicator.

'Communal harmony' used to be another harmoniously touted phrase, which evaporated into thin air after the anti-Sikh riots, the Gujarat riots, the Muzaffarnagar riots, Mumbai riots, ...you get the picture.



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